Nunez, a survivor of the Narvaez march, eventually returned to Spain. There he became popular with adventurers who hung around the seaports. His stories about the New World were eagerly sought. Nunez kept interest at a keen level by broad hints that he knew the location of great gold mines.

One of the more attentive listeners was Hernando de Soto, a rich and famous conquistadore who had been first-lieutenant to Francisco Pizzaro during the conquest of Peru. That invasion had brought Soto much gold, his share of the Inca ransom. Yet, he had not achieved the power that came to leaders of conquest. Nunez' tales of another Indian land, with hoards of gold and pearls, aroused Soto's ambition.

King Phillip, who had succeeded Carlos V to the Spanish throne, was equally anxious to ex-tend and enrich his empire. Such royal objectives could be fulfilled with still more New World resources. Thus, Phillip was easily persuaded by Soto to grant the governship of Cuba and a franchise to settle La Florida which had frustrated Ponce and Narvaez.

Nunez in an attempt to get him to join the expedition. However, the two men could not agree on terms for the purchase of a ship in which Nunez had a part interest. Nunez' two cousins went in his stead. The necessity of having to guide Soto to gold that did not exist probably had a lot to do with Nunez' refusal. Soto was undaunted, and perhaps relieved that he would not have to share treasure with another. As a court favorite, Soto had access to the secret charts which by decree had been confiscated from Ponce's pilots and all other ship captains who journeyed to the New World.

Soto's Peru plunder was poured into this new expedition, the richest that had ever been assembled up to that time. He purchased at least five vessels for the venture, three of them among the largest of their day.

Soto set forth in 1538 from San Lucar, Spain, the

same port from which Columbus had sailed 46 years earlier and Narvaez 11 years earlier.

Upon reaching Cuba, Soto busied himself for a few months establishing his authority as governor. One of his first acts was to rebuild Havana, burned extensively the year before by French buccaneers, and to start construction of a defensive bastion.

Soto used this time to send his pilot, Juan Anasco, and a crew of 50 on an exploration trip to Florida to find a suitable port to receive a major invasion force. Anasco returned after several months with news of a good port and with four captured Indians as future guides. The care with which Soto organized and equipped his expedition maximized the potential for success.

We have six contemporary accounts of the undertaking. The first two are mere letters written at the start, but four are lengthy narratives published years afterward. Regrettably the charts and logs prepared by the ship captains involved have disappeared. Now we must rely on the chronicles to deduce Soto's landing place. We will start with the letters.

LETTER BY THREE OFFICERS

Soto gathered his ships in Havana Harbor in the spring of 1539 and loaded them with foodstuffs necessary to sustain a force of approximately 500 men for a year or more.

Included in the provisions were 13 live hogs taken along for a portable meat supply. They were of long-leg, long-snout breed imported into Cuba from Extremadura. Soto and most of his men grew up there and knew how to manage the rangy, fleet-footed swine which still roam the southland as wild "razorbacks." The animals, adept foragers of nuts and roots, multiplied with amazing speed. They reached 300 in number before many were butchered the second year for emergency rations, and grew again to a drove of 700 which sustained survivors during their retreat down the Mississippi.